Bournewood carers call for investigation

The carers at the centre of the landmark Bournewood case are demanding an independent investigation into alleged ill-treatment of HL, a person with severe learning difficulties, when he was illegally detained on a psychiatric unit.

The couple, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claim the man looked like “someone out of Belsen” when they collected him in December 1997 following a five-month spell at the former Bournewood Hospital.

They say they are raising the issue now because they are unhappy with the way the authorities have dealt with the case. “If he had been in that state when in our care he would have been taken away from us and we would have been charged.”

A spokesperson for Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Trust said: “We are considering whether we should hold an independent investigation into these allegations.”